04 June 2008, Sitka.

Today was a bit of a drizzly day, although it got much better later on. Still the guests should have been happy and appreciative of Sitka. Outside it was blowing 20 knots of wind but as the anchorage of Sitka is sheltered from any wind but the North West it was nearly wind still.

That brings me to one of the greatest challenges of a captain in regards to communication to all on board. How to explain that although a day is not that great (no great sunshine and tropic temperatures) but still a very good day! We were very lucky to go to Sitka today instead of going up the coast. Last night the ship slowly started to move on the swell caused by this weather system in the North Pacific. The weather system also caused a mini gale just south of the Yakutat Bay, resulting in 40 knots of wind and 17 to 18 feet of waves. Had our schedule taken us directly to the Yakutat then it would have been an extremely un-comfortable ride for the guests. Now we had Sitka first and the swell had time to die down before we were heading that way. For me a good reason to be happy.

However as science has proved, when you make an announcement, of the 100 people that hear it, 40 to 50 do not take any notice, about 40 will listen and only about 10 will react to it directly. Those 40 that will listen need another announcement to get them going. So when I make an announcement about “where we are and where we are going” then I know that only 40% will really understand and digest what I am saying and about 10% will do something with it. The rest will just say “what was that all about and continue doing whatever they were doing”. Scientists have come to these conclusions after analyzing disasters and emergencies and trying to figure out why people said “nobody told me anything” while there was proof that information had been given. The only solution is to make multiple announcements and repeat in short messages what is going on.

Of course I cannot make multiple announcements as I would upset all sorts of activities onboard. The daily program is packed with things going on and when an interesting lecture is going on, the audience does not need a captain suddenly talking through it all. Thus I try to find a time on port days, when it works without interfering with anything else. On sea days there is the Voice from the Bridge at 1 pm. but on port days I have to find a time sometime after departure. So today I had planned my announcement just after departure when clear from all the houses that would be able to hear it. We also have a protocol in Alaska that stipulates that we will not upset the locals with yet another bingo announcement.

I thought I had picked my time carefully but on double checking the daily program I found that there was a religious service going on in the theatre. I cannot make a public room announcement without going through the Theatre as well and thus I had a problem. I could not do it later, because then I was coming too close to the Baked Alaska parade in the dining room, another venue not to disturb. In end I had to leave it for one time.

Luckily I have this problem only Northbound in Sitka. On the other days there is somewhere a gap in the hotel activities that allows me to say a few words about “where we are and where we are going “.

We sailed from Sitka on time and had a bit of a wobbly ride up the coast for the first few hours but as the swell continued to abate, by 11 pm. the ship was fairly quiet again. Tomorrow we are in the Yakutat, going up to the Hubbard glacier. Let’ see how close we will be able to get this time.